PHILADELPHIA — Mother’s Day, of all the holidays, is among the least comfortable for Eagles third-round draft pick Josh Huff.

While everyone and their mom seemed to be celebrating the occasion at dinner or on Facebook last Sunday Huff was on Twitter thanking USAir for getting him safely to Philadelphia to start his career with the Eagles.

Huff’s 49-year-old mother is in a Texas State prison serving a four-year sentence for assault with a deadly weapon according to prison records. It wasn’t the first time she lost it. Huff prays it will be the last time.

“My mother, she’s the only mother I’m going to have,” Huff said away from the media horde Friday. “But as of now me and her are not on the same page. I’m just keeping my distance. I’m loving her from a distance.”

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Addiction almost certainly was a factor leading to the incarceration of Huff’s mother. For a long time Huff understood little about the impact the disease had on the family of the addict.

Huff doesn’t wear the counseling he received on his sleeve. But it’s no coincidence his career at Oregon switched gears when he let some of the personal hurt and pain go.

To love his mother, Huff had to love himself. The reward for that was a new appreciation for life as it is.

“The thing that fuels me, that makes me want to be great is seeing my dad smiling,” Huff said. “Just knowing that I have him in my corner each and every step of the way and he’s making a lot of things go better for me. And a lot of things are going easy for me. That’s the thing that’s keeping me focused at this point.”

From a football perspective Huff sure seemed like an unusual pick for the Eagles on the second day of the draft.

Head coach Chip Kelly and general manager Howie Roseman barely had traded up to pull the trigger on a much bigger and higher rated wide receiver in Jordan Matthews in the second round of the draft. Matthews shattered records at Vanderbilt and led the powerful Southeastern Conference in receiving the past two years.

Kelly knew a lot more about Huff (5-11, 206) than anyone else in the draft as he coached him at Oregon. Coming off a career season with 62 receptions for 1,140 yards (18.4 average) and 12 touchdowns, Huff had only begun to grow. Kelly knew Huff’s respect for Scott Frost, the offensive coordinator at Oregon, had been an immense help.

“I think he grew to trust everybody on the coaching staff and kind of considered them family,” Kelly said. “Just a special young man in terms of what he’s been able to accomplish. He’s graduated. He has his degree. I just think obviously he had a little different upbringing than some people but never used it as an excuse and added fuel to the fire for him to accomplish what he wanted to accomplish. He’s got an opportunity now to play in the NFL.”

Huff was the first of the Eagles to sign his rookie contract. He said he didn’t want it to be a distraction.

Genuine, introspective and humble, Huff could be like a breath of fresh air in an Eagles locker room where at least one veteran no longer around never was accused of being genuine, introspective or humble.

Huff was described by Kelly as physical, tough and willing to show it whether playing in the slot or helping seal the edge in the running game.

Those are the qualities veteran Jason Avant, not DeSean Jackson, brought to the Eagles.

“I hate losing more than anything,” Huff said. “And if you have a mindset to go out and dominate the guy across from you that’s going to translate off to your teammates and that’s going to make the team better. So that’s just the nastiness I play with. Hopefully I can bring that to the Philadelphia Eagles.”